Teen Pleads Not Guilty to Bryant Park Shooting Charges

UPDATED | A 16-year-old Bronx boy was ordered held without bail Tuesday after pleading not guilty to charges alleging he shot two people at Manhattan’s Bryant Park ice skating rink.

Cory Dunton has been charged with attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and other counts in connection with the Nov. 9 shooting of two people — one of them a 14-year-old innocent bystander — during an 11 p.m. robbery. Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Renee White ordered that Mr. Dunton continued to be held without bail.

Peter J. Smith for The Wall Street Journal

Police patrol Bryant Park after the shooting in November.

Prosecutor James Lin told the judge that the 14-year-old boy, who was struck with a stray bullet, remains hospitalized and “he has no movement below his waist,” Mr. Lin said.

The other victim, Javier Contreras, 20 years old, whose coat Mr. Dunton is accused of trying to steal, was shot four times during the robbery, including in his thigh and hand. Mr. Contreras won’t be able to return to work at a fish market for several months, Mr. Lin said.

Mr. Dunton’s court-appointed attorney, Sam Roberts, said, “Mr. Dunton is denying the allegations” and said the evidence against his client consists of unreliable eyewitness accounts of an “extremely tumultuous” shooting.

But Mr. Lin said Mr. Dunton made incriminating statements to police after his arrest. Mr. Lin told the judge Mr. Dunton told detectives, “he was not aiming for the 14-year-old, Adonis Mera, and it was his fault and he feels apparently sorry for destroying the dreams of the younger victim.”

According to records released by the district attorney’s office Tuesday, Mr. Dunton was arrested on Nov. 10 at 8:50 a.m. at his family’s home in the Bronx. While being taken to a Manhattan precinct and later while inside the stationhouse, Mr.Dunton is alleged to have made several statements such as, “I’m going down for this.” In other statements he allegedly admitted being at the scene but said a friend was the shooter. At 10:55 a.m. that day, Mr. Dunton said, “I think I want to talk to a lawyer.” None was provided until his arraignment.

Mr. Roberts said in court Tuesday that he believes the oral and written statements Mr. Dunton is alleged to provided will be barred because his request for an attorney was ignored.

A law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation said that the police interview ended when Mr. Dunton asked for a lawyer, though several statements detectives overheard Mr. Dunton say were written down. The official said it was Mr. Dunton’s decision to provide a written statement.

Around 13 hours after he was arrested, Mr. Dunton asked to be allowed to call his mother, according to the court records. Detectives reported hearing him say, “Ma, it’s over. Promise me you’ll take care of yourself,” the court records state.

Prosecutors on Tuesday released a three-page statement Mr. Dunton is alleged to have written by hand. It reads in part, “Its not that Adonis was at the wrong place at the wrong time its that I came and ending his fun. I did not aim for Adonis and I am not blaming anyone for what I have done and nothing I say or do can change the fact that what I did is done.”

“Some or most people might hate me for what I have done I hate myself as well. My mom always told me ‘be good’ ‘don’t’ get in trouble’ ‘stay out of problems’ for her but I never listen,” the statement said.

District Attorney Cyrus Vance said, “With several gunshots, Cory Dunton is accused of shattering the peace and calm of an annual holiday activity in one of our city’s great public venues.”